Don't delete Instagram · Rishab Academy

Don't delete Instagram

I've been deleting and redownloading Instagram for like three years. I just redownloaded insta again after a month or so without any social media. Insta is like a toxic ex - it just keeps coming back, but I think there's a better way. Let me explain.

The goal isn't to completely quit Instagram. It's more to use Instagram like a grandparent and less like an iPad kid. Essentially, you don't want to be that person who habitually opens Instagram every time there's a lull in a conversation. This is to help curtail that. Hopefully, you'll also develop a better relationship with it along the way.

Tip #1: Don't follow people you don't know

Including celebrities, brands, magazines, athletes, weird friends who are trying to become influencers. Like, literally only follow your friends. If you don't have their phone number, what's the point of following them? Do you really need to know what's going on in their life? All of these people serve to remind you that your life is just kind of boring, and that's not exactly what you want on social media.

I pick up Instagram when I'm bored, and it doesn't feel great to see a bunch of cool, attractive, and rich people doing fun things that I can't afford. That just serves to make me feel even worse. Cutting out celebrities and brands from your social media makes it feel a lot more authentic, which was the point of social media to begin with.

Tip #2: Mute people

This is a slept-on feature of Instagram. You can essentially remove people's posts and stories from your feed without letting them know. It's actually amazing. There's a lot of people you have to follow when you're on social media - your mom, your friend, your mom's travel account with 58 Instagram followers. What? It doesn't matter. Mute them. It's great. You'll never see what they're up to, who they're hanging out with, anything like that, and they don't need to know. Muting is genuinely such an underrated feature. It's the best thing Instagram stolen since stories. Try it out.

Tip #3: Use time controls

I've tried everything to keep myself off of that stupid app - deleting the app, deactivating my account, only using Instagram on Safari. The best tool I found for this so far is this app called Screentime, and it's completely free. I found that any other time control I would just promptly ignore, but this one lets you set a specific number of opens per day and a specific amount of time you can spend on each open.

I found that 10 opens per day at 2 minutes each works great for me because it gives me enough time to see what my friends are up to, but without letting me just sit down and doom scroll for like 45 minutes before I realize that any time has passed at all. You can also add a delay for both opening the app and giving yourself a general unlock. I have to sit and stare at my phone for two whole minutes contemplating what I'm doing with my life just to get Instagram for a little bit more time. It's enough to push me to find literally anything else to do.

Tip #4: Don't use Instagram for more than a few minutes at a time

This really helps me prevent doom scrolling, where I just sit on my phone and burn two, three, 5, 7 days in a row where I do like absolutely nothing other than scour the internet for niche memes that most of my friends won't even watch. It's genuinely so pointless, and I would be better off doing anything else. Like, literally anything else. I don't even know how I lose track of time like that. It's kind of sad.

The general idea is to use Instagram like a grandparent - like, I see what my close friends are up to, and that's effectively it. I don't need to know what some micro-celebrity is doing on the internet.

Tip #5: Try making your phone grayscale

It's much easier to ignore your friends' hot summers if everything they're doing is in black and white. Studies have even shown that grayscale makes your phone less addictive.

I've personally found that having my phone in grayscale makes it feel a lot more like a tool - so like something I pick up to listen to music when I'm working out, and less something I pick up when I'm just bored and want to pass the time. Generally, that's good because I'm trying to be more utilitarian about my use of Instagram.

One last tip: If all of those things aren't really working for you - like you've tried some random combination of them and it's still not making you feel better about Instagram - just deactivate it for a few weeks. Because you can only deactivate your account once a week, I feel pressure to not reactivate it instantly after deactivating it. And after a few weeks off of Instagram, I generally feel a little bit cleaner, which goes away as soon as I redownload it anyway. But if you follow some of the other tips, that won't be the case for you.

And finally, if you still really hate it, just delete it. It doesn't matter. It's social media. Literally nobody cares about what you're doing online.

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